As recognized herein, wireless telephones and other devices have speaker volume controls that do not sense or automatically change when the user is in a volume-sensitive area. Instead, the user must manually reduce or increase the speaker volume when, for example, the volume is too high. For example, if one wants to get a voice response from a device but is in a library, at the movies, around a sleeping baby, etc., a too-high volume can be reduced only after the user manually reduces it, but the distraction of others will already have taken place.